Last night...

...we played "Empires of the Ancient World" at the club. We played this a few times when it first came out in 2000, but it has languished in a cupboard. I dragged it out a fortnight ago and we had a good game and did the same again last night.

This really is a very good game, very replayable and with a good balance of military, diplomatic and economic strategy. If you can find a copy it is well worth having. 3-5 players, games last about 2 hours.

On the AWI terrain front, I have finished the current batch of fences, am just painting up the 8th terrain board (river and cliffs) - and will take a pause there. I have also started construction of a building; my interpretation of the Mecklenburg County Court House circa 1780. This is described as a frame building supported on eight 10-foot high brick pillars to make a marketplace. The gaps between pillars were filled in by a low stone wall. The courthouse was defenced by the patriot forces at the Battle of Charlotte that follwed Camden. I think this will be quite a unique piece among the "usual" AWI buidlings for the southern campaigns.

My first headache was how to make brick pillars (on the cheap, obviously). I solved this by cutting sections out of the dense polystyrene foam I had left from making by 6mm Wagram terrain boards last year. These then had a brick pattern scribed in using an old biro. When guled to a base with PVA these look just right, but will need a coat of PVA and paint to enable them to withstand the rigours of gaming (and storage). The stone walls will be made from gravel. Photos at the weekend of work-in-progress with any luck.

cheers